No, We Don't Scream
by Luithia Clen
Summary: In which Beat faces one of his greatest culinary trials (kind of) and foresight is lacking all around. Short one-shot that takes place post-game. Contains the most obvious light spoiler about Beat and Rhyme, but that's about it.


Spontaneous little plot bunny that was nipping at me. Also there's a severe lack of Beat and Rhyme centered pieces on this website.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Oh! Everyone's here." Surprise and a hint of sadness filled Rhyme's normally cheerful face.

"Yeah, I ran into Neku at the Scramble so we decided to head over early," Shiki explained as she stopped twisting a strand of her hair, "Is that okay?"

"What? Yeah, it's fine." Rhyme looked down at the pair of vanilla cones she was holding. "I just wish I could've known to grab two more."

"Don't worry about it," Neku interrupted her with a shrug. The four teens (or three teens and one almost-teen) were standing at the corner of Dogenzaka, just out of the way of the sidewalk traffic. Rhyme smiled back at him before turning to her brother who was leaning against an advertisement on the wall.

"Here!"

Beat started as she held out the cone, like it hadn't quite registered to him why she had gotten two.

"Oh." He stared at the off-white and slightly melted swirl of frozen cream in front of him. "Um." The hesitancy showed through his face and Rhyme's smile dropped.

"Did you not...?" She retracted her arm. "Sorry. Guess I should've asked first, I'm sorry."

"What? Naw, that ain't-" Beat struggled to explain his reaction. The disappointment in her face alone was enough to make him cringe.

"No, it's fine, really," she said, forcing a smile back on her face.

Beat grabbed at his beanie._ Son of a-_

"I'll take it if that's okay, Rhyme," Shiki jumped in, "I love ice cream!"

"Oh! Um, sure."

As Shiki reached out to take the treat, a hand shot in between them and snatched it up. Before they could say anything, Beat opened his mouth and bit off the entire mass of ice cream above the cone. The sharp aching that spread over his teeth was quickly forgotten with the wave of cold and pain that shot into the back of his throat. In about half a second it reached his brain.

"Did you just eat an entire ice cream cone in one bite?" he heard Neku say, next to a more panicked "Are you okay?!" from his sister. Beat was now bent over with his head against the advertising board, trying to contain the pained groans. He felt a hand on his shoulder. _Rhyme?_

"Please don't throw up."

_Dammit, Phones._

He nodded anyway, punching the board at the same time. The mound of dessert was beginning to melt and the sweet cream filled every crevice in his mouth.

"Mmmf," was the only sound he could get out to express his discomfort.

"Honestly Beat, you didn't _have_ to," he heard Shiki saying to his right. Rhyme's voice came from a similar direction.

"I'm sorry, Beat. I shouldn't-"

"HMMMFF!" he interrupted her. Beat put his hand over his mouth and pulled his head up, swallowing the mouthful with obvious effort. He dropped his head back against the board.

"Great," he gasped, changing his fist to a thumbs up, "Delicious."

"Right," said Neku, patting his shoulder.

"You could've just said 'no thanks'", Shiki told him.

"'Thanks' nothin'!" said Beat, finally pulling himself back up, "I _wanted_ to eat it, aight?!"

He lifted the remainder of the cone to his mouth. Neku grabbed his wrist.

"How about we take the paper off first?"

Beat looked at the smooth white wrapper encasing the base of the cone.

"Oh." He ripped it off and crumpled it in his hand. "What they even use those for?" he asked, popping the cone in his mouth.

"I...think they're supposed to keep your hands clean," Rhyme answered, as she always did.

There wasn't much cold cream in the remaining cone. It only gave him a smaller headache as he chewed, crunching loudly.

"Beat," Rhyme began softly, "You really didn't-"

"I just toldja. I ate it cuz I wanted to." He swept the back of his hand over his mouth. "So chillax, yo."

Rhyme looked at him with uncertainty for a moment and then let out a light, bell-like laugh.

"Your ice cream," Shiki warned and pointed to the remaining cone, where drips of it were beginning to slip down the side. Rhyme immediately set to work licking up the escaping cream, a few giggles escaping her as she twisted it around to get at all sides.

"Now that that's settled, should we get going? Molco gets pretty crowded after one," said Shiki, rolling her eyes a little and stepping ahead of them. The foursome merged a bit awkwardly into the stream of moving people. Shiki, leading and chattering about the new Sheep Heavenly styles she saw there, Neku, half paying attention to her and shooting Beat a humored look now and again, Rhyme, still working on her treat and trying to keep up pace, and Beat, following close in step behind and easing forward to clear some space if people were starting to crowd her.

* * *

Haha fun fact, the cones in the game don't actually have wrappers whatever this is what I think of when I think of cake cones.


End file.
